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Sorry, but it is called the Radeon 8500. They are also releasing an overclocked Radeon 256, but calling it something like the Radeon 7500 along with a laptop version. The only problem is these last two use the old Radeon256 core with a still-broken T&L engine, while the Radeon 8500 has an all new core with a much better T&L engine, advance Hyper-Z, and an advanced programable pixel shader. With the beta drivers it performs about on par with the GeForce3 using the yet-to-be-released Detonator4 20.xx drivers. It could be a good fight since they are releasing it at $300.

Also Nvidia is planning on some launches too. They are shooting for a Higher clocked GeForce 3 called something like the GeForce3 Ultra, a VIVO version called the Geforce3 Ultra Advanced and a GeForce3 MX. I think they are shooting for a 250Mhz core and 540-560Mhz memory.

This should be a good fight to drive down the prices of the big boys. Nvidia has a bit of an edge with the Detonator4 drivers, but not much.

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The COMPUTER is your FRIEND!
Happiness is manditory.

Yeah i know is 8500 but still 2 lol Anyway like you said i agree that both card will be though with both positive and negative point.
The geforce3 here in my futurshop is 649$ This is crazy but at least the R8500 will be less than 400 probably even there.

Yes, but the rumours do fly. How about a Radeon 8700 and enhanced drivers for lauch for ATI. Plus the GeForce3MX is going to run at about $180. They are also going to disable 1/2 the pipelins again to keep it crippled. That gives it a fill rate of 400/800M pixel/texel. Compare this to a GeForce2 Ulta (which costs the same amount right now) of 1000/2000. That is 2-1/2 times more. The Ultra will likely have faster and more memory. The GeForce3 MX will gain a slightly better T&L engine, the hardware pixel shader, a stronger memory controller, but not faster per.

Now the GeForce3 will likely get cheaper (it already is dipping below $300), but it wont get cheaper than the MX at $180, $150 wholesale, so it will likely run about $250 retail, $200 wholesale. The GeForce3 Ultra will likely run about $350-400 and the Ultra Advanced (VIVO) another $50-100.

With the Radeon 8500 hitting the market at $300 and companies like Hurculies and others (along with ATI) manufacturing this beast, things could be interesting.

------------------
The COMPUTER is your FRIEND!
Happiness is manditory.

Well, I hardly see what's going to be that exciting about a GF3 MX. Looks like it will barely outperform the current GF2 MX's, and probably still stay slower than a current Kyro II, only more expensive.

As for faster drivers, there's only so much you can do with any given piece of silicon. Otherwise we wouldn't need new video cards. We'd just keep the old TNT's and wait for new drivers. Also note how last I've seen benchmarks of those non-released Detonator 4's, they accelerated a few games that are used as benchmarks, but slowed down everything else. Sounds to me more like a trade-off to look impressive in benchmarks, than any actual useful improvement.

Briefly, I don't expect much in the way of driver miracles nVidia, nor from anyone else. Some mild improvements, yes. Miracles, no.

That said, I'd still wait for the final silicon and drivers for the Radeon 8500 before passing any final judgement. While it is possible that the final version will be faster than the beta, it's never a certainty. I'd also wait to hear if their drivers are stable and compatible with everything. Let's face it, ATI does have quite a track record for driver blunders. (In fact, almost as bad as nVidia's.)

You know, I've seen some damn long descriptions of where people live, and I was just wondering how freakin' long of a location they actually allow you to write in here. Looks like it's quite a bit. Oh well, if the space is here I'll use it!!! :)

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Late this month to early next month. I think rumors about problems (take a look at xbit labs or nvnews) are complete BS.

IMO, Mr. Derek Smart is a hypocrite: Only someone who is either (a) lying (b) ashamed of their products (c) just plain ashamed, would hestitate to give out some simple and straight forward information. - Derek Smart, Ph.D.